Today started with a bang and ended with a bang

Today Steve and some friends decided to leave at 4:00am and do baptisms at the SL Temple. He was on his way out of Grantsville and was being tailgated by a big gravel truck with 3 trailers attached. He had to turn left to get to his friend's house and the gravel truck didn't see his signal. When Steve slowed down to make the left turn, the diesel tried to pass him on the left. Steve didn't realize the diesel was on his left side and they collided. There were no injuries, and the truck looks okay considering he was hit by a diesel, but it definitely caused damage to the truck. The mirror, bumper and front light are a little bit mushed, but the biggest problem is the left front tire; when you turn the steering wheel, the right tire turns, but the left one doesn't move. I'm thinking this small accident totaled that little red truck!

As a worrying mom, I'm just glad he was okay. You never want to hear your child say, "I got hit by a diesel today." They never made it to the temple, but went out for donuts instead.

On a happier note, Steve's graduation ceremony was tonight!! He has earned his Associate of Science degree from Utah State University.
There were only two high school students from Grantsville who earned their degree, Steve and his friend Tyler who is sitting next to him in this picture.

We had Erin, Molly and her kids, and LoaJean all come and celebrate with us.
Now in a about a month, Steve will be graduating from High School. Don't ask me how that all works out, but it does, and I couldn't be more proud!!!
This is a great picture of my two Steves!

Last day in DC

Tuesday was our last day on vacation. We decided to spend a few hours at George Washington's Estate in Mt. Vernon. It was such a perfect day, warm and sunshiny.

This is Dave and Marcia in front of their apartment building. Their apartment is on the back side of this building on the second floor. They overlook the grass and trees, it's a really nice apartment.

This beautiful bush is right out in front of their apartment building. There were sooo many beautiful flowers everywhere.

Later that evening, we went over to the temple to get a few pictures too. It's such a beautiful temple. Steve says it's made of Georgia marble, I've never seen the marbling before, but it was incredible.

Steve and I.

Steve and his mom.

Ready for her mission!

Dave and Marcia, excited to be in DC.

Steve and I left Wednesday morning...very early... I'm so glad we came out with his parents. It was a very nice week.

Sunday and Monday in Washington DC

The view of the DC temple when you come upon it on the 495 freeway is breathtaking. The view at night is even better, it looks like it's floating in the sky. Steve and I arrived at Dave and Marcia's apartment on Saturday night, late. Elder Bennett met us with the keys, and all of the neighbors helped us to unload the vehicle. We were only there about 15 minutes and had the entire SUV unloaded, and had Steve's parents invited to Sunday dinner and family night on Monday. Everyone was so friendly. On Sunday, before we picked up Steve's parents, we decided to go to one of the wards where Steve served his mission. It was in Vienna, VA. What a nice little community, apparently that's where Senator Orrin Hatch lives, and he was in the church where we attended sacrament meeting, but in a different ward. Before church, we saw some of Steve's old mission stomping grounds.

Steve played basketball on p-days at this school. He found the homes of several church members. When we went to church, Steve found someone who had been there at the same time as Steve. He was able to ask about some of the people who had been there 23 years ago. It was a nice experience.

This is Steve at the Vienna Chapel.

The Vienna chapel again.

This is a home where Steve lived for several months. The upper left window was his room.

On Monday we found this church house in Manassas, another one of the areas where he served. Steve's parents went with us to do a little more exploring.

They also needed to pick up some necessities at the grocery store to stock the apartment. It was quite funny when Marcia found "Sticky Fingers" barbecue sauce. She was so excited, I just had to snap a picture. I'm thinking she'll like Washington DC.

Steve had printed a list of some of the restaurants that were on one of his favorite Food Network shows, "Diners, Drive-in's, and Dives" with the hope that he would be able to try out some of them. It turned out we were only able to make it to one, the Broadway Diner in Baltimore, MD. It was extremely busy, but the portions were huge, and for the most part, the food was very good.

Just a picture of Steve in front of the Diner. Having a MARVELOUS TIME!!

Day 2: Two fun stories

I have a couple of funny stories about day two of our trip. I really don't think I'll blog every day, but I wanted to remember these:

Last night we slept in a hotel in Council Bluffs, Iowa. I was so tired and slept SOOO good! As we usually do in the morning, we each asked the other how they slept.

Steve said he woke up at about 4:00am and laid there wide awake for a little while, then early in the morning, he said it sounded like everyone on our whole floor woke up and left at the same time, with doors slamming shut, and people talking out in the halls, etc. He couldn't believe how noisy it was. He didn't sleep very well at all.

I slept like a rock, right through EVERYTHING, but at about 3:00am, I woke up when I heard a baby crying down the hall. It was so soft, and I woke up wondering where I was, and which of my babies it was. Steve and I both got a laugh, I can't believe I could sleep so soundly and wake up to a baby's cry.


We realized that if we drove all day, we would end up at around 6 or 7:00 in Indiana, right about where Steve's manager Tyson lives. We called them early in the day and asked if they would like to go out to dinner with us. They said that would be great. Steve asked Tyson to pick a place and send him a text of the address, we would meet him there at 7:00 for dinner.

Tyson said there was a cute little steak house called "Arco de Ouro" and sent us the address. In our defense, I only took 2 years of spanish in jr high school, and I know the language better than Steve. We drove all day, including two hours in Chicago's "rush hour" traffic. By the time we arrived in town, we were both pretty exhausted.

We had just enough time to freshen up at the hotel and run. Steve left his cell phone in the hotel...he wouldn't need it. We drove to the address, which was less than 5 minutes from our hotel, but there was no cute little steak house at that address. (I'm sure those of you who speak spanish know what was there.) We had to drive back to the hotel to pick up Steve's cell phone so we could call Tyson and double check the address.

Tyson said he was just a few minutes away, and told us to drive back to the address and he would find us. When we drove back to McDonald's, he was there to meet us...LAUGHING!!!


Arco de Ouro means "arches of gold" or Golden Arches... it was quite funny.

He did end up taking us out to a nice restaurant, and we had a great time with Tyson and Sarah Lee... don't get me started on THAT name!

D.C. trip day 1...The Good, The Bad, and The UGLY

It's really late here, and I don't have a lot of time to post, but day 1 of our trip was full of a lot of things, three of which I'd like to tell you about.

The Good... Steve had to pull over and get on a conference call on the side of I-80 in Wyoming. We had to stop somewhere that there was cell service. That's pretty rare in Wyoming. The call was with the System 1 board of directors. They basically told him that System 1's president was retiring, and Steve was the new President! That was a good phone call!

The Bad... I haven't been pulled over by a police man in 16 years!!! I was pulled over in Nebraska going between 85 and 90 MPH... That was bad. But okay, because he let me go with just a warning.

The UGLY... My darling red shoes were left at a hotel in Iowa. It had to be done, I didn't leave them there by accident. It was an ugly situation... very ugly!

Happy 90th Birthday Grandma

This beautiful young lady turned 90 years old this year. We had two huge parties for her. The first was in February in Arlington Washington, where friends, family, and neighbors could come celebrate with her. The second was last night in Orem, Utah, where more friends and family came to celebrate.

Mom and dad brought Grandma and Grandpa into town from Washington State, and then spent time with us kids. We really enjoyed spending time with them. I think they are way too far away.

We also had family members come in from all over the country. I was so happy that Dave and Julie were able to come up from California. Here was the best family picture we could get. There are 3 siblings missing, but I'm sure their hearts were there with us.

I was able to see cousins, aunts, and uncles who I haven't seen in years. Jessica and Chris came and were able to meet family members who hadn't met Chris yet.

I do have a funny story, my mom and her cousin were shopping at the dollar store in Orem (this story is from my cousin's point of view). They were standing in line at the check-out when my mom nudged the young man in front of her and asked, "What's your name?" Her cousin was confused, thinking how weird it is to just ask some young man in line what his name was... "Chris..." he said, puzzled. "I'M GRANDMA!" said my mom. I guess there were several people in the store who were quite curious why this "grandma" was talking to him, and why he didn't recognize his own grandma. Eventually they both realized that this Chris was my daughter Jessica's husband, and grandma was Jessica's grandma. They had only briefly met at the wedding and reception, and I'm sure his mind was a little bit overwhelmed, meeting all 300 relatives on Jessica's side. And I'm especially sure he didn't expect to run into his new grandma-in-law at the dollar store in Orem. Later we assured him that if he was going to bump into Grandma Wright, it would most definitely be at the Dollar Store or DI.

Easter!!

I love having Easter and General Conference fall on the same weekend. We were able to spend the day relaxing at Lee's house. He had conference going in several areas, so we all could see or hear.

It was very fun having the family get together. Although I am getting a little bit of a "Grandma" complex. I have several nieces who run up to me all excited saying..."GRANDMA, GRANDMA, GRANDMA!!" and give me kisses! I just play along with it, they're so cute, and now that I have a daughter married, I'm hoping to get some good grandma practice in.

We had two easter egg hunts. One for the younger kids in the front yard. There was candy and eggs all over the yard, in fact, it was hard not to step on them while you were walking. The younger kids had a blast, and filled their baskets.

Lee and Tricia decided that they needed a 12 and older easter egg hunt as well, the only rule in hiding the candy and eggs was that they had to be visible from one side. They were very well hidden! The kids walked out and couldn't see ANYTHING! There were candies thrown up in the pine tree hidden in the woodpile, hidden in the swing set, and every nook and cranny of the yard. I think the dad's had a lot of fun hiding everything.

And the older kids had a fun time finding them...

Conner stayed the night at his cousin's house, and our cousin Cameron spent the night at our house. So Cameron took Conner's place in the easter egg hunt. I'm not sure how much he enjoyed the HARD hunt, but he was a good sport.

Here's Kaylea showing off all the goodies she found. Steve is showing off his COOL easter basket...a dirty broken bucket! He was a good sport too, he hasn't participated in an easter egg hunt since he was about 12...6 years?

After the easter egg hunt and conference, we all had dinner. It was a very nice day.

My family left the festivities early because Steve's parents were being set apart for their mission that evening. I decided Easter is a very special day to be set apart for a mission. It was a really neat experience to have all of Steve's brothers who could make it come with their wives. There were two who were unable to attend because of previous commitments, and they were missed, but it was a very sweet experience for those who attended. The spirit was very strong, and there were some special blessings pronounced on their heads. They left for the MTC on Monday morning.

Girls Night Only party

Saturday was such a nice day. I had my parents come spend the night with us Friday night and then we watched the first session of General Conference together. They went with us to lunch at our favorite spot...Casa Del Rey, and then they went to my sister's house to enjoy the rest of the day.

Steve's family has a tradition of getting together for the Priesthood Session and then they have pizza afterwards. This would be the last weekend that Steve's parents would be around for at least a year. They will be serving a mission in the Washington DC temple. After the priesthood session, all the men and boys went to a movie, while all the girls had a Girls Night Only party to say a last goodbye to Marcia.

We learned a lot of things about Marcia that we didn't know, and reminisced old memories we have all had together. Then we had banana splits! YUM!!!

After the food we decided we needed to work off some of the calories so we played wii, a dancing game. It was quite halarious. We danced all night! Kaylea and Jessica were winning almost every round with Molly right there with them. I learned a few moves myself, hopefully none of which will ever be shown in public! What a fun way to say goodbye to my amazing Mother in law!

4th annual Iron Chef Wright

(Winners)

This has been an amazing weekend. Both sides of our family have had a lot of wonderful things going on. I think I'm going to post them individually. I am at the mercy of others with pictures though, so some posts I'll have quite a few pictures, and others will have none.

On Friday was the fourth annual Iron Chef Wright. It was really neat because my parents were in town to be the judges. My brother and sister-in-law were in town from California, and this was their first experience with the Iron Chef competition. We also had a cousin of mine come with his family and enjoy the festivities.

So, the competitors were:

Tracy and Steve
Lee and Tricia
Dave and Julie
Erin and Brayden
Jared and Casi
Richard and Andrea (official helpers)

Our secret ingredient was asparagus for the main course, which most of us thought would be great, but the judge...mom, doesn't like. This would be quite a chore to make asparagus for someone who doesn't like to eat it. The other secret ingredient was cream for the dessert...yum!!

Hopefully I can post pictures of the food soon...I need to borrow them from someone who actually took pictures, but it was yummy as always! Jared and Casi ended up winning the coveted Mrs Fields apron, with their rendition of Chicken cordon bleu with roasted asparagus. Our judges were extremely nice this year. They bought the winners fancy aprons, and gave a cute gift to each of the losers as well! I think they should judge us every year!!!

Hopefully sometime in the near future we can have all 8 of the Wright kids and their spouses competing with mom and dad judging, but I'll take what I can get, it was a blast!!!

April Fools Day...GO AWAY!!!

I woke up to about 8 inches of snow this morning... and had to drive to school on slick, snowy, yucky roads.

This was the deepest snow of the season for us. Maizey would get lost under the snow, it was really cute!

I went to school and had to sit through a 4 hour lecture....3 1/2 hours into it, I got an incredible MIGRAINE! Normally I would just quickly go home, but I had to wait an hour and take an exam...for another hour...with a migraine...

I came home and had Steve grumbling that Maizey had an accident...on the carpet...downstairs...

It's the perfect April Fool's joke of a day right???

I heard a noise in the other room... Maizey came running out with an empty box of D-CON mouse poison in her mouth...

The good news is... We needed the snow... I made it to school without crashing my car... I did well on the test... Steve cleaned up Maizey's accident... She vomited up all the D-Con and has medication to take for the next 3 weeks... She's still ALIVE!

And because of all the excitement, I didn't have time to wallow in self despair because of my terrible migraine.

It's 7:00PM on April 1st, and I think I'm going to fast-forward the clock a few hours and say this Yucky April Fool's day is OVER!!!